Close Menu
    Donate
    Featured News

    Secret Yellow Dots That Your Printer Uses to Help The Gov Track You

    By Updated:No Comments8 Mins Read

    FG0JVWCFM2KBQB5.LARGEThis is very old news, but most have never heard of it before. U.S. laser printer manufactures have, in cooperation with the federal government, included special tracking dot systems with their printers, so that every page printed contains hard to see dot patterns encoding the serial number of the printer and the time and date that a given page was printed.

    The dots’ minuscule size, covering less than one-thousandth of the page, along with their color combination of yellow on white, makes them invisible to the naked eye, Crean says. One way to determine if your color laser is applying this tracking process is to shine a blue LED light–say, from a keychain laser flashlight–on your page and use a magnifier.

    The best website up about the tracking dots is over at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The EFF has sent in a FOIA request for information on the program. So far, they say,

    “[the] documents we’ve begun to receive in response to our FOIA requests suggest that the government may have convinced all printer manufacturers to put some kind of tracking mechanism in every color laser printer.”

    printerguide

    The EFF has discovered the key to the tracking dot code, as shown in the picture here. They reveal the printer serial number and the exact date — down to the minute — of when the document was printed.

    Table of printers

    Imagine that every time you print a document, it automatically includes a secret code that could be used to identify the printer — and, potentially, the person who used it. Sounds like something from a spy movie, right?

    Unfortunately, the scenario isn’t fictional. Most color laser printers and color copiers are designed to print invisible tracking codes across every single printed page of their output. These codes reveal which machine produced a document and, in some cases, when the document was printed or copied.

    Because of their limited contrast with the background, the forensic dots are not usually visible to the naked eye under white light. They can be made visible by magnification (using a magnifying glass or microscope), or by illuminating the page with blue instead of white light. Pure blue light causes the yellow dots to appear black. It can be helpful to use magnification together with illumination under blue light, although most individuals with good vision will be able to see the dots distinctly using either technique by itself.

    Manufacturer Model Dots? Comments
    Brother
    HL-2700CN yes volunteer test
    HL-4200CN yes EFF test
    Canon
    CLC 1000 yes EFF
    test
    CLC 2400 yes EFF
    test
    CLC 3002 yes EFF
    test
    CLC 4000 yes EFF
    test
    CLC 5000+ yes EFF test
    CLC-iR 3200-C1 yes EFF test
    Color imageRUNNER C2570 yes EFF test
    Color imageRUNNER C3100CN yes EFF test
    Color imageRUNNER C3200 yes EFF test
    Color imageRUNNER C3200N yes EFF test
    Color imageRUNNER C3220 yes EFF test
    Color Laser Copier 1150 yes EFF test
    Imageclass MF8170C yes EFF test
    LBP 2410 unclear faint dots; could be artifacts
    Dell
    3000CN yes EFF
    test
    3100CN yes EFF
    test
    5100CN yes EFF
    test
    Epson
    AcuLaser C900 yes EFF test
    AcuLaser C1100 yes EFF test
    AcuLaser C1500 yes EFF test
    AcuLaser C1900 yes EFF test
    AcuLaser C3000 yes EFF test
    AcuLaser C4000 yes EFF test
    Fuji: see Xerox
    Hewlett-Packard
    Color LaserJET 1550L yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 1600 yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 2250LN no
    (??)    		 EFF test
    Color LaserJET 2500 yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 2500L yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 2500N yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 2550 yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 2550L yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 2550N yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 2600N yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 2680 yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 2700N yes volunteer test
    Color LaserJET 2840 yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 3500 yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 3550 yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 3600DN yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 3700 yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 3700DN yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 3700N yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 4500 no EFF test
    Color LaserJET 4500DN no EFF test
    Color LaserJET 4500N no EFF test
    Color LaserJET 4550 no EFF test
    Color LaserJET 4550N no EFF test
    Color LaserJET 4600 yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 4600DN yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 4600HDN yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 4600N yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 4650 yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 4650DN yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 4650DTN yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 4700 yes volunteer test
    Color LaserJET 4700DN yes volunteer test
    Color LaserJET 4700DTN yes volunteer test
    Color LaserJET 5M no EFF test
    Color LaserJET 5100CN yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 5500 yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 5500ATN yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 5500DN yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 5500HDN yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 5550 yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 5550DN yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 5550DTN yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 8500 no EFF test
    Color LaserJET 8500DN no EFF test
    Color LaserJET 8550 no EFF test
    Color LaserJET 8550DN no EFF test
    Color LaserJET 8550GN no EFF test
    Color LaserJET 9500 yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 9500HDN yes EFF test
    Color LaserJET 9500MFP yes EFF test
    IBM
    Infoprint Color 1454 unclear dithering?
    Infoprint Color 1464 PS3 yes dithering?
    Konica
    (Konica/Minolta)
    Bizhub C252 yes EFF test
    Bizhub C350 yes EFF test
    Colorforce 1501 yes EFF test
    Colorforce 8050 yes EFF test
    DialtaColor CF 2001 unclear dithering?
    DialtaColor CF 2002 unclear dithering?
    Ikon CPP500E yes EFF test
    Magicolor 2 Desklaser no EFF test
    Magicolor 2200 DL yes EFF test
    Magicolor 2210 yes EFF test
    Magicolor 2300 DL yes EFF test
    Magicolor 2300 W yes EFF test
    Magicolor 2350 yes EFF test
    Magicolor 2350 EN yes EFF test
    Magicolor 2400 W yes EFF test
    Magicolor 2430 DL yes EFF test
    Magicolor 2450 yes EFF test
    Magicolor 3100 yes EFF test
    Magicolor 3300 yes EFF test
    Magicolor 5450 yes EFF test
    Magicolor 7300 yes EFF test
    Kyocera
    C2630D yes EFF test
    FS-C5016N yes EFF test
    FS-C5020N yes EFF test
    FS-C5030N yes EFF test
    FS-C8008 yes EFF
    test
    Mita KM-C2230 yes EFF test
    Lanier
    LD238C yes EFF
    test
    LP125CX/LP126CN yes EFF test
    Lexmark
    C510 yes EFF
    test
    C720 unclear retest
    C752 yes EFF
    test
    C752N yes EFF
    test
    C760 yes EFF
    test
    C910 yes EFF
    test
    C912 yes EFF
    test
    Minolta:
    see     Konica
    NRG
    DSc38 yes EFF
    test
    OkiDATA
    (Oki)
    C5100 no EFF
    test
    C5150 no EFF
    test
    C5150N no EFF
    test
    C5200 no EFF
    test
    C5300 no EFF
    test
    C7200 no EFF
    test
    C7350 no EFF
    test
    C7400 no EFF
    test
    C7400N no EFF
    test
    C9200 no EFF
    test
    C9300 no EFF
    test
    C9400 no EFF
    test
    MIP C5540 no EFF
    test
    OkiLAN 8100E no EFF test
    Panasonic
    Workio KXCL-500 yes EFF test
    Ricoh
    (see also Savin)
    Aficio 1224C yes EFF test
    Aficio 1232C yes EFF test
    Aficio CL 2000 yes press report
    Aficio CL 3000 yes EFF test
    Aficio CL 3000E yes EFF test
    Aficio CL 6010 yes EFF test
    Aficio CL 7000 yes EFF test
    AP 206 yes EFF
    test
    Infotec/Danka ISC 2838 yes EFF test
    Samsung
    CLP-500 no EFF
    test
    CLP-510 no EFF
    test
    CLP-550 no EFF
    test
    CLP-550N no EFF
    test
    Savin
    C3210 yes EFF
    test
    CLP35 yes EFF
    test
    Tektronix:
    see     Xerox
    Toshiba
    eStudio 210c yes mfr. statement
    eStudio 211c yes mfr. statement
    eStudio 310c yes mfr. statement
    eStudio 311c yes mfr. statement
    eStudio 2100c yes mfr. statement
    eStudio 3100c yes mfr. statement
    eStudio 3511 yes EFF test
    FC15 yes mfr. statement
    FC15i yes mfr. statement
    FC22 yes mfr. statement
    FC22i yes mfr. statement
    FC25P yes mfr. statement
    FC25Pi yes mfr. statement
    FC70 yes mfr. statement
    Xerox
    (Tektronix)
    DocuColor 12 yes EFF test
    DocuColor 40 yes EFF test
    DocuColor 1521 yes EFF test
    DocuColor 1632 yes EFF test
    DocuColor 2000 yes mfr. statement
    DocuColor 2045 yes EFF test
    DocuColor 2240 yes EFF test
    DocuColor 3535 yes EFF test
    DocuColor 5252 yes EFF test/mfr. statement
    DocuColor 6060 yes EFF test/mfr. statement
    Phaser 560 no EFF test
    Phaser 740 no EFF test
    Phaser 750 (Z750V) no EFF test
    Phaser 750P no EFF test
    Phaser 790 yes EFF test
    Phaser 850DP no EFF test
    Phaser 860DP no EFF test
    Phaser 1235 no EFF test
    Phaser 6100 no EFF test
    Phaser 6200 no EFF test
    Phaser 6200DP no EFF test
    Phaser 6250DP no EFF test
    Phaser 6350DP no EFF test
    Phaser 7300DN no EFF test
    Phaser 7300DT no EFF test
    Phaser 7700 no EFF test
    Phaser 7750DN no EFF test
    Phaser 8200DP no EFF test
    Phaser 8200DX no EFF test
    Phaser 8400 no dithering?
    Phaser 8400B unclear dithering?
    Phaser 8400DP unclear dithering?
    Phaser 8400DX unclear dithering?
    Phaser 8400N unclear dithering?
    Phaser 8440DP unclear dithering?
    Phaser 8550 no EFF test
    Phaser 8550DP no EFF test
    Phaser 8560MFP/D no EFF test
    WorkCentre M24 yes EFF test
    WorkCentre Pro (all
    models)    		 yes mfr. statement

    Share.

    Related Posts